Coaches

Coaches are some of the world’s most important, impactful people. They are entrusted with young lives, often spending more time with them than their parents and teachers do. Coaches lead youth athletes in developing their skills and psyches in settings that can offer crushing parental and peer pressure, with a stark line between success and failure, winning and losing on display for all to see.

That’s why it is critical that youth have a positive coach, a Double-Goal Coach®, who pursues winning and the even more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. That way, no matter the outcome of a contest, all children can take a valuable, enriching experience from sports and apply it to the rest of their lives.

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Frequently asked questions

Isn’t Positive Coaching just a lot of soft, happy talk?

No. Positive is Powerful. That’s why such accomplished coaches as Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson and dozens of other top pro and college coaches use our techniques and advise us on theirs as members of PCA’s National Advisory Board. Positive reinforcement and demonstration of belief in your athletes keeps them attuned to the necessary corrective criticism the best coaches provide. When coaches apply the right balance between specific, truthful praise and specific, constructive criticism they help athletes improve and compete better, while also helping them develop as people.

Is PCA's training appropriate for both rookie and veteran coaches?

Yes. All coaches should take PCA Training, from the prototypical T-Ball parents who coach because their child’s team needs a volunteer to professional coaches. Coaches need training in simple matters such as taking a knee when speaking to a small child, and even top pro coaches gain from Positive Coaching techniques. For example, Phil Jackson in this video explains how Positive Coaching helped him and Horace Grant past some obstacles to lead the Chicago Bulls to their first three NBA Championships. In fact, that experience moved Phil to volunteer as PCA’s National Spokesperson.

Does PCA provide sport-specific training?

PCA does not provide sport-specific, skills-and-drills training. We focus on how coaches and parents use sport psychology, educational psychology and interpersonal communication to develop youth as athlete and people via life lessons inherently available through sports. Whenever possible, for single-sport workshops (i.e., a group of baseball coaches), we provide a PCA Trainer with a deep background in that sport. That way, the Trainer is speaking in language, metaphor, analogy and scenario that resonates with the audience and more likely can address certain sport-specific, skill-specific questions that may arise during the workshop.

Where does PCA outline recommendations for playing time?

We have many resources on playing time in our Development Zone™ Resource Center website. By analogy, you can find an answer to most any question about youth sports by searching that site. You also can “Ask PCA” through our Ask PCA Blog.